Move the nation

In true British style it only seems apt to begin the summer journal by mentioning the weather – rain, has anyone seen so much rain in June? There have also been a few other downpours; politically both major parties are reeling from the referendum with several resignations, my public affairs team have already updated members on Brexit and will continue to keep you informed as it moves forward, but for the time being, the status quo remains.

Luckily for us, the rain held off for most of the Flame golfers and certainly didn’t deter anyone from attending the Flame conference and awards on 29th June. Over 850 delegates gathered in Telford to enjoy and learn from our keynote and panel speakers. A personal highlight for me was Futurologist Stefan Hyttfors “75% of the FTSE 1,000 will not be here in 15 years. Keep moving or become irrelevant.” It was great to see my Facebook and Twitter feeds full of friends from the sector having a great time at our annual celebration.

Our charity of the year, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award kicked off the evening celebrations with an inspirational presentation, find out how we will be working with them this year and how you can support them on page 22. On page 24 and 25 we celebrate the success of our Flame award winners, congratulations to all our winners and finalists. Of course at ukactive we are not ones to stand still and we have already opened the awards for next year and I urge you to save the date for Flame 2017 by blocking out 27th and 28th June in your diary.

Our Active Training Awards also opened at Flame. This year we are expanding this event to a day’s conference prior to the Training awards evening. We are delighted that ActiveIQ and CIMPSA are once again supporting this event. As the training and skills agenda remain a key priority we take a look at CIMSPA on page 14.

With the Rio Olympics and Paralympics nearly upon us, the passion and elite sporting world will become illuminated. On a grass root level, having launched their new five year strategy Sport England has pledged over £250 million to tackle inactivity. Huw Edwards takes a closer look as what Sport England’s new direction means for our sector over the coming months and years on page 12.

Lastly (who could forget) the most active day of the year is nearly upon us. We are delighted to welcome Argos as our main partner for National Fitness Day (see page 19). Remember the day really can only be bigger and better than last year if more and more of our members and partners join in, read our article from front cover celebratory Tanni on page 19 to find out how you can get the nation moving on 7th September by getting involved with NFD.

Enjoy this summer journal and please remember to contact the team if you would like to include your news or discuss a potential feature article in future journals. It was great to see so many of you at Flame and we look forward to seeing you at our forthcoming events.